RANGELEY – The third annual Dick Deery Run/Walk for MSA, hosted by the Deery family, is slated for Sunday, May 24. The One-Mile Fun Run for kids will kick off the event from Waterfront Park at 2 p.m., followed by a 2-mile walk through Rangeley. Runners for the 3.5-mile race will line up at 2:15 p.m.

Registration forms are available at Morton-Furbish Real Estate, Rangeley Lakes Chamber of Commerce, Jannace’s Backwoods Clothing and Oquossoc Grocery.

Registration can also be done by contacting Holly Deery at [email protected] or through the Maine Track Club Web site. Entrants can also register the day of the race. Preregistration for the event is encouraged.

The cost is $15 per entrant. Sponsor sheets are also available with the entry forms. Each of the past two years the event has drawn 200 walkers and runners.

“We (the Deery family) really want to encourage people that know someone who has Parkinson’s or have a family member struggling with the disease to enter. They can get stickers that say they are marching for that person. We really want to honor those people and my dad,” said Heidi Deery.

Deery’s father was diagnosed with MSA, or Multi-System Atrophy, six years before his passing. MSA is a rare form of Parkinson’s Disease that afflicts one in 1 million people. Through the Dick Deery Run/Walk the Deery Family, TeamFox members, have raised more than $22,000 in two years for the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

“No one was raising money directly for MSA research. We wanted to team up with the Michael J. Fox Foundation to do that. They are really the largest money-driven research organization for Parkinson’s Disease. There really were no cutting edge medical advancements for MSA before them,” said Deery.

For the young and young at heart there will be face painting, an inflatable jump house, free snacks and a live volunteer disc jockey. A Memory Wall will be available to share “Lessons Learned” from those affected by the disease. During the day a photo memory book will created that will be sent to the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

For more information, contact Heidi Deery at 864-5200 or [email protected].